"Huffin" is an instrumental song written by Karl Jenkins and performed by Soft Machine. It was only released as a live recording, on their album Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (recorded July 1977, released 1978). It is the last section of a suite of seven connecting songs which comprise the first side of the album, and is preceded by a short song titled "Puffin" which serves as an introduction to "Huffin".
The song is notable for its structure, and its function as a grand climax to the suite. The main part of the song is a fast paced riff, a repeating pattern of notes that uses polyrhythms of high complexity. Although the riff fits into the song's 4/4 time signature, it is sufficiently complex that, in order to follow the music, most listeners will need to memorize the riff and perceive the timing by the pattern, ignoring the time signature. It is likely that the musicians had to do the same.
The riff is performed by all members of the group, playing the melody in unison, except for the violin played by Ric Sanders holding one high note. There are no other harmonies or counter-melodies; even the drummer beats out the notes of the melody. This is not too unusual for Soft Machine's music of this time, especially in the compositions of Karl Jenkins, and similar examples can be found throughout the album. Even in the group's earlier days, when it consisted of completely different personnel from the group that performs "Huffin", melody lines were often played by several instruments in unison, and the music sometimes experimented with deliberately unsynchronized unison (several instruments playing the same melody, but out of sync with each other, sometimes wandering several bars apart), as explored on "Hope for Happiness": the first track on their first album, and on "Virtually" from their Fourth album. The sound of unison playing was also simulated on several songs from their Seven album, by using a harmonizer to make one instrument sound like two, playing in unison. But rarely, if ever, have virtually all instruments limited themselves to playing one melody in unison.
After several repeats of the riff, the music switches into a one-chord 4/4 jam with John Etheridge playing the lead solo on guitar. The music switches between the two sections, but the riff is now reprised by just bass and drums, and Etheridge performs a virtuoso solo on top, which is particularly impressive if it is improvised, as it appears to be.
In the second half of the song, the riff appears again, but the solo is now performed by Ric Sanders on violin. Although Sanders solos against the riff, his playing does not follow the timing of the riff for the most part (although there are a few short instances where it does), and he mostly performs free-form, ad libbing outside of the music's timing.
About a minute from the end, the music suddenly switches to a new riff which also uses complex polyrhythms. The instrumentation is not as stringent as the first riff's, because in some parts, some instruments hold a sustained note while others continue the pattern. Aside from that, all instruments play the melody together, as was done for the first riff, including John Marshall furiously beating out the timing on drums and cymbals, bringing the music to a sustained climax. The song ends on a final note which holds while Sanders plays an ascending flourish on violin.
Funk is a music genre that originated in Black American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid-20th century. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. It uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, and dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.
Jazz guitar may refer to either a type of electric guitar or a guitar playing style in jazz, using electric amplification to increase the volume of acoustic guitars.
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section ; and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums.
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhythm), or a momentary section. Polyrhythms can be distinguished from irrational rhythms, which can occur within the context of a single part; polyrhythms require at least two rhythms to be played concurrently, one of which is typically an irrational rhythm. Concurrently in this context means within the same rhythmic cycle. The underlying pulse, whether explicit or implicit can be considered one of the concurrent rhythms. For example, the son clave is poly-rhythmic because its 3 section suggests a different meter from the pulse of the entire pattern.
In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include classical compositions such as Ravel's Boléro and the Carol of the Bells, and popular songs such as Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" (1977), Henry Mancini's theme from Peter Gunn (1959), The Who's "Baba O'Riley" (1971), and The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (1997).
Gordon Giltrap, MBE is an English guitarist and composer. His music crosses several genres. He has been described as "one of the most revered guitarists of his generation", and has drawn praise from fellow musicians including Steve Rothery, Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore.
Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers and Daevid Allen. As a central band of the Canterbury scene, the group became one of the first British psychedelic acts and later moved into progressive rock and jazz fusion. Their varying line-ups have included former members such as Andy Summers, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington and Allan Holdsworth, and currently consists of John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Thelonious Baker, and Asaf Sirkis.
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright, which appeared on Pink Floyd's 1975 concept album Wish You Were Here. The song is written about and dedicated to founder member Syd Barrett, who departed from the band in 1968 after becoming mentally ill.
Bassline is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, dub and electronic, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, cello, tuba or keyboard.
Accompaniment is the musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles of music. In homophonic music, the main accompaniment approach used in popular music, a clear vocal melody is supported by subordinate chords. In popular music and traditional music, the accompaniment parts typically provide the "beat" for the music and outline the chord progression of the song or instrumental piece.
Lead guitar is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured guitar, which usually plays single-note-based lines or double-stops. In rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz, punk, fusion, some pop, and other music styles, lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar, which consists of accompaniment chords and riffs.
A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm section is often contrasted with the roles of other musicians in the band, such as the lead guitarist or lead vocals whose primary job is to carry the melody.
Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins,, HonFLSW is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song "Adiemus" and the Adiemus album series; Palladio; The Armed Man; and his Requiem.
In popular music, a fill is a short musical passage, riff, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody. "The terms riff and fill are sometimes used interchangeably by musicians, but [while] the term riff usually refers to an exact musical phrase repeated throughout a song", a fill is an improvised phrase played during a section where nothing else is happening in the music. While riffs are repeated, fills tend to be varied over the course of a song. For example, a drummer may fill in the end of one phrase with a sixteenth note hi-hat pattern, and then fill in the end of the next phrase with a snare drum figure.
John Michael Glyn Etheridge is an English jazz fusion guitarist, composer, bandleader and educator known for his eclecticism and broad range of associations in jazz, classical, and contemporary music. He is best known for his work with Soft Machine from 1975 to 1978, 1984 and 2004 to present.
"New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 1" is a song by Scottish band Mogwai. It was first released as a double A-side with "New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 2" on 7" limited to 3,000 copies. It was later included on the 1997 compilation album, Ten Rapid . The single reached #2 in English radio presenter John Peel's Festive Fifty Chart in 1997. The single's cover art shows details from the McMinnville UFO photographs.
Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris is a (mostly) live album by the jazz rock band Soft Machine, released in 1978.
This is a list of jazz and popular music terms that are likely to be encountered in printed popular music songbooks, fake books and vocal scores, big band scores, jazz, and rock concert reviews, and album liner notes. This glossary includes terms for musical instruments, playing or singing techniques, amplifiers, effects units, sound reinforcement equipment, and recording gear and techniques which are widely used in jazz and popular music. Most of the terms are in English, but in some cases, terms from other languages are encountered.
Switched-On Rock is an album by the Moog Machine, released in 1969 on Columbia Records. It comprises instrumental covers of popular songs from the 1960s, performed on the Moog synthesizer. It was one of a spate of albums capitalizing on the success of Switched-On Bach (1968), an album of Bach pieces performed on the Moog by Wendy Carlos.
Songs of Paapieye is the fourth album by Ghanaian musician SK Kakraba, released in October 2015 by Awesome Tapes From Africa, becoming the first album of original material released by the typically reissue-centred label. The album showcases Kakraba's mastery of the gyil, a type of wooden, 14-slatted xylophone originating from Kakraba's native Ghana that features a distinctive, buzzy rattle with a slow decaying sound caused by spiders egg sac silk walls pulled across the gourds' holes, known in Kakraba's Lobi language as pappieye, which gives the album its name. It is smoother in sound than his previous album Yonye and is fast-paced, showcasing complex, intricate rhythms, drones and dialogue between lower, buzzing basslines and higher, syncopated notes. Many tracks feature several modes and move between different sections.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
